Last Night on Earth

by James Peters

  “Death-touch? I like that term. Mind if I use it?”

  “Be my guest.” Movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention. I watched without turning my head to see a creature. It had a roughly human shape with a pale-beige face, bright orange eyes, and curled pointed ears covered in multi-hued feathers, It wore a dark blue military-style uniform. I glanced the opposite way to see another approaching. This one’s eyes were green, but clearly they were the same species. The Bushwhackers are here. But I haven’t activated this temporal diode thing.

  The shade’s eyes dimmed into nothing. “We approach a critical juncture. Which side will you stand with?”

  “Tell me, what are you guilty of?”

  “Only the crime of protecting myself when attacked without hesitation. None have survived such an encounter.” His mouth looked threatening, but his eyes looked almost pleading.

  “Nothing more?”

  “Nothing worth speaking of.”

  I looked downward. “I’ve done the same, and would do it again.”

  “Then we’re a lot alike. Do you believe in due process?”

  I squinted at him. Does he know I trained as a lawyer? “Where I come from, we have an idea of innocent until proven guilty. Will the migrun give you a fair trial?”

  “If they apprehend me, they’ll either kill me immediately, or worse. I expect they want to harvest my temporal power.”

  I sensed honesty in his words, and I didn’t like the idea of these birdmen jumping the gun. “How do we play this?”

  “The migrun will charge. I sense their temporal diodes restricting time around them. If they grab me, I’ll be stuck in chronological synchronicity. If that happens, I’ll be caught.”

  “Any idea why they want you?”

  “They want what I can do.”

  “And that is?”

  “My best guess is to offer a complete and impenetrable defense for their leader. They will charge in five seconds. Decide now.”

  The migrun on my left lunged toward Rhuldan. I leaped up and threw a punch at his feathered, beaked face, and I heard a sickening sound of breaking bone. The other migrun grabbed Rhuldan’s arm and shook the shade. Peeking out from beneath the bushwhacker’s sleeve, I could see the temporal doohickey on his arm. Without thinking, I drew one of my Colts and aimed at the device. I squeezed the trigger, releasing a deafening clap of thunder and hot lead. Sparks flew, and Rhuldan returned to his normal, shadowy self.

  “Now to end this.” Rhuldan raised a bony finger toward the nearest migrun, whose eyes opened in terror.

  I yelled, “Stop! It doesn’t have to end in death.”

  Rhuldan’s face quivered as if behind dark clouds, but his expression showed surprise. “Why should I spare them?”

  “You kill them, and next time they’ll send twenty instead of two. Let them live, and they’ll fear you forever. Trust me on this.”

  Rhuldan grumbled and sighed. “Fine, we’ll try it your way. Now let’s get out of here before more come.” He grabbed my arm, and I wondered if he’d kill me, but my heart kept ticking. I did my best to keep up, as I had a strange sense of fighting against the normal order of things as I moved. I relived the same moment several times over before dashing forward. He led me to a closet in the back of the saloon, the floor covered by a heavy crate. Rhuldan opened the lid. A false floor opening led to a ladder. Down was the only way we could go.

  The ladder ended at a rocky floor where feet, smaller than mine, had worn away at the path. “What’s your plan?” I asked as I followed a dark shadow through a poorly lit tunnel.

  “Plan? What makes you think I have a plan?”

  “Hope springs eternal? Does this happen to you a lot?” I asked, catching my breath.

  “Most life forms either ignore me or make it a point to stay away from me. Only a few are willing to approach, and when they do, I sense an imminent attack, so I dispose of them without delay or remorse. If the migrun didn’t have the temporal diodes, I’d be all but impervious to their attempts. Pity you had to destroy that one with your primitive projectile weapon. If I could study one, I might be able to create a counter-measure.”

  “Then you’re in luck.” I showed him the device Ginn had given me.

  “You had this all along? I have ample reason to finish you!”

  “Wait! Let me explain! You see, I owe the spiders a lot of trilaxitive, and my friends, if you can call them that, told me this was the only way to settle the score. But I wanted to hear you out and get a sense of what was right before using this thing. That’s why I didn’t use it.”

  Rhuldan stopped and stared at me. His face contorted with as if he were moving quickly then stopping dead, and his mouth’s movements didn’t seem to match the sound of his words. “Are you certain the migruns just didn’t preempt your action?”

  “Yes. I was told I’d get a sense of impending doom when I neared you, but I never felt that way. More a sense of wonder and trust.”

  “Strange. I had a similar experience. Pity I have no choice but to kill you now.”

  I jumped back, resting my hand on my pistols. “Now hold on a second! I thought we were in this together!”

  “That was what I understand is a joke. Your face! It went a new shade of white!” His mouth opened widely, either an indication of laugher or he was about to bite my arm off.

  “Very funny, picking on the cowboy from Earth.” I held out the temporal diode to him and said, “Here, you want this thing?”

  Rhuldan stopped in a dark shadow beneath a metal support beam that curved to the ground. In this light I was afraid to look away from him as he might just disappear. “Keep it for now. When we get to a place I can analyze it, I will. But for now, it is better if you carry it. If it were to discharge on my arm, who knows what it might do to me?”

  “You think it’s safe for me?”

  He shrugged. “That depends. Does your species require fluctuations in the flow of time to circulate blood, or do you possess hearts?”

  “Heart. Just one.”

  “Then you should be fine.” Rhuldan raised a single finger toward his face and whispered, “I hear something.”

  Small footsteps sounded in the distance. I found a crevice big enough for us to duck into, hoping whatever approached us would continue on past. I wasn’t so lucky. A grinkun, hunched over and covered in dirt stopped, looked at us, and said, “Outsiders! Not supposed to be here!” He ran away before we could respond.

  “We need to stop him!” I ran after the possum-fellow. Rhudlan zipped past me without making a noise. “If I were him, I’d be grabbing my friends, or some guards.”

  “Do you want me to kill him?” Rhuldan asked. His voice sounded too casual about it, like he didn’t care either way.

  “No. Just stop him. Keep him quiet too!” My boots slid as I rounded a corner to find our little rat-nosed friend stopped, looking back at us.

  “Hey there, buddy,” I said, holding my hands away from my pistols. “We’re not going to hurt you. We’re just hiding for a little while.”

  Rhuldan raised a finger toward the grinkun.

  “Don’t! No death-touch!”

  “We may not have a choice. I hear more of them coming. Your weapons should be powerful enough to kill them. Are you willing to let them capture you?”

  I steeled my nerves. “Let’s not do any killing today. I’ll talk to them and explain that we’re just hiding out for a little while and mean them no harm. I have a good feeling about this!”

  Chapter Six

  Into the Fire

  “Rhuldan, can you hear me?” I tried to say into the darkness, but the gag in my mouth silenced any attempt at talking. Tiny hands had tied my arms and legs together using strong ropes and multiple layers of knots. Behind me, somewhere, those ropes connected to a series of pulleys. I knew this because the grinkun had used them to raise me ten feet above the ground.

  Movement in the rope and a slight noise from above me indicated something had returned to us. I
craned my neck upward toward the sound, but the room was so dark I couldn’t see anything but shadows playing against a black backdrop. Something hairy brushed against my face, and my body convulsed as if ten thousand spiders had walked across my cheek. The gag loosened in my mouth and dropped to my neck.

  “Gah! That thing tastes like the south end of a north-bound buffalo!”

  “What is buffalo?” a high-pitched voice trilled.

  “Big, hairy, stinky, stupid animal,” I said. “Who’s there? I can’t see you.”

  “Are you blind?”

  “I certainly hope not. I see a little light here and there.”

  A voice from below me said, “He’s a topsider. His eyes are weak.”

  “Light a torch,” the voice from above replied. A spark below me grew into a flame. As the fire lit the room, I became able to see the possum-like, nasty smile of a grinkun hanging upside down, gripping the rope above me, holding a sharp knife in his teeth. Below me, another carried the burning torch close enough its heat made me squirm. Five others circled me, pointing spears in my direction.

  “That’s better. Now, can we talk?” I asked.

  “We are talking.”

  “That’s true. Can you let me down?”

  “Of course we can.”

  “Great, just do it slowly.”

  “Just because we can do something doesn’t mean we will.” Several grinkuns from below laughed a high-pitched staccato.

  Great. Either grinkuns are smart alecks or literalists. Either way, I need to be careful. “I mean you no harm.”

  “We’ve been told those words repeatedly from topsiders, just before they round us up and force us to do their bidding. Why should we trust you any more than the migrun?”

  “Listen, I don’t have any love for the migrun. That’s who we were trying to hide from when we came here.”

  “It’s true,” Rhuldan said from across the room. I couldn’t find him in the limited light, but based upon his voice, he was facing me, perhaps thirty feet away. “You should have seen what he did to the last migrun who crossed his path. That bird will be spending the next few weeks regrowing cheekbones!”

  The grinkun pursed his lips and shook his head. “Why should I believe you? I think you work for the nasty birds.”

  Rhuldan said, “The migrun tried to capture me. If it hadn’t been for Idiom, they’d have me.”

  “Idiom? What is Idiom?” Upside down grinkun asked.

  “I am Idiom.”

  “What should we do?” one of the grinkuns below me asked.

  “Kill him. I don’t trust him,” another.

  “No! We’ll ask the commander. He’ll decide.”

  “Yes, he’ll know what to do,” the grinkun above me said as he scurried away.

  “Wait! Let me down before you go!” I said.

  “No.”

  I sighed. Hanging by these ropes was beginning to make it hard to breathe. “Rhuldan, what do you remember? How did they capture us so easily?”

  “I remember hearing something coming from the distance. Then we were surrounded on all sides, above and below at once. You said I shouldn’t kill them. They covered us in an instant as if it were raining grinkun. That was right after you said you had a good feeling about this.”

  “Next time I say that, tell me to stop wagging my tongue.”

  “Without hesitation.”

  “What do you know about the grinkun?”

  “I haven’t studied them, but I know they are known for their mining skills. Even without power tools, they can excavate more efficiently than the best automatons. Rumor has it they can see in near-complete darkness, and based upon what we just heard, that rumor is likely true. The males aren’t considered intelligent, but there are stories of the females being strong strategists.”

  “The females are smart, eh? Would they have a queen?”

  “More likely a brood mother. She would be their highest ranking official.”

  “Is she truly their mother? Are they all brothers?”

  “I haven’t had the opportunity to learn about their reproductive customs, and I wasn’t planning on doing any experimentation today. I’d recommend treating their brood mother as if she were royalty. Do you hear that? I think they are returning.”

  This time the footsteps seemed more patterned as if they were walking in formation. Three lines of grinkun entered, each row was seven deep, and these grinkun wore a bright yellow armor and carried bladed staffs. Royal guards perhaps?

  “Cut them down.” The order came from a fat, white haired grinkun who followed the battalion. He appeared older than the rest and wore a bright red cap that told me he was a commander or leader. A small, fast grinkun ran toward the ropes and began to saw away at them with his blade.

  “Wait!” I said, “Can you lower me…” The rope gave way, and I fell flat, belly down, knocking the wind out of me. I coughed and gagged before whimpering out, “… first.” Then they cut Rhuldan’s rope. He fell faster than I expected, but just before he hit the ground, he came to a near stop, landing without making a sound. Lucky bastard.

  Commander Fat-Possum waddled around the formation and studied me. “What is this creature?”

  A dirt covered grinkun stepped forward. “We don’t know. It’s a topsider, but the dark one said it struck a migrun.”

  I wiggled against my ropes, loosening them a bit. “That I did. Punched him square in the face.”

  When the commander laughed, his jowls wiggled. “What I wouldn’t give to see that.” He turned back to his soldiers. “Take them to the royal chamber. Don’t harm them unless they try to escape.”

  “What if they try to run?” one soldier asked.

  “Kill them, of course.”

  The winding passageway was too dark for my eyes, and, since the average grinkun was a foot shorter than me, I learned quickly of the need to duck to avoid the low ceiling, and that grinkuns find a topsider smacking his head on a low beam to be hilarious. We took multiple turns before the path opened into a large chamber which was, thankfully, well lit with burning oil lamps. A fat female grinkun leaned against a throne covered in gold and purple regalia. Attendants fed her red berries, while an old grinkun wearing a visor stood beside her. The room fell silent except for the sound of the large female eating.

  The Brood Mother twitched her nose as they shoved Rhuldan and me before her, but she didn’t bother looking up from her meal. “What are you?”

  “Me or him?” I asked.

  She chugged a goblet of blue liquid, spilling some down her chin. “You. I’m familiar with shades.”

  “I’m a human. My name is Idiom Lee.”

  Old, visor-wearing grinkun’s face started to glow in letters I couldn’t make out. She made a few grunts as information flashed in her eyes. “Human, regardless of spelling or dialect, does not exist.”

  I nodded. “Well, that’s news to me.”

  A guard poked me in the back with the butt of his spear. “Show respect or next time I use pointed end.”

  I nodded toward her. “I meant no disrespect, your majesty. I just got here. All of this is new to me.”

  The Brood Mother chewed a berry, spitting the pit on the floor for an attendant to grab immediately. “I’ve been told you struck a migrun. Is this true?”

  “Yes. They charged us.”

  “You have no allegiance to the migrun?”

  “Ma’am, in all my life I’ve met a grand total of two of those bird-looking fellows. One I punched in the face, the other one, let’s just say his arm is smarting about now.”

  “As for you, shade, what is your relationship with the migrun?”

  “They tried to capture me without reason. I assume they wanted to kill me or use my powers.”

  The Brood Mother raised her nose up and sniffed the air twice. “The grinkun need strong warriors to defend ourselves. I’ll give you an opportunity to prove your mettle.”

  A murmur began behind me. Grinkun guards whispered to one another while someo
ne approached. The battalion separated in the middle to allow passage.

  A young female grinkun wearing the fanciest pink and white sparkling dress I’d ever seen had entered and it was clear she was important by the way she walked and how the others backed away from her. Bright-white fur flowed behind her and deep blue eyes, the color of a Montana sky glowed. She had an oddly pleasant look to her face — it was cute, more like a dog’s face than nasty like a possum. She ran a manicured paw down my arm. “What an interesting specimen we have here.”

  I had the most unexplainable reaction to the touch, almost an attraction, but more like when you look at a cute puppy and you want to pick it up and cuddle it, but then you realize it’s a wolf pup and it may just eat your face off. I snapped out of my odd stupor and said, “Pleasure to meet you, miss.”

  The Brood Mother spat a half-chewed berry on the floor. “It’s so nice of you to join us, my daughter. To what do we owe this visit?”

  “I saw the migrun newsfeed. These two have created quite a commotion,” the young female said.

  “So you wanted to see them for yourself, Fayye?”

  “Yes. I need to know if they would be suitable.”

  The Brood Mother pushed the berry plate away. “Suitable for what, Princess?”

  “A special job, dear Mother. Suffice it to say it’s a critical matter of grinkun security, and the less we speak of it, the better off we all are.”

  The Brood Mother’s eyes squinted as if she were crushing a bug, and her lips hardly moved as she spoke. “You heard the princess. These two are her property. None are to interfere with her project.” She pointed a red, berry-stained hand at her daughter. “Don’t make things worse.”

  “I’d sooner die, Mother.” Fayye stared at Rhuldan and me. “This way.” We followed her to a room with backlit opalescent walls draped by tapestries featuring all the colors of the rainbow. Several chairs surrounded a table made of polished black stone. Fayye stopped at the door, and without saying a word, she pointed toward the chairs. We sat as she closed the door behind her and pulled the handle tight. She pulled a device smaller than a pistol and mostly flat from her pocket and looked at it as she walked the perimeter of the room.